


Learning Cube(d)

by sullacat



Series: Little Hero (the bb Spock series) [4]
Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-17
Updated: 2011-04-17
Packaged: 2017-10-18 06:27:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/185972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sullacat/pseuds/sullacat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim finds the right gift for bb Spock. (4/8 in series)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Learning Cube(d)

**Author's Note:**

> for my [Schmoop Bingo card:](http://sullacat.livejournal.com/92694.html) baby: first Christmas. Thanks to VLD and [Altilis](http://archiveofourown.org/users/altilis) for the Vulcan terms.
> 
> I hope the Vulcans out there are not offended that I began with Newtonian classical physics. Wikipedia is my friend. No infringement intended.

_[+ 6 months from 'Just the Three of Us'; Spock ~= three years old]_

Jim wasn't terribly fond of Christmas.

He tolerated it, and if asked few of his crew would have ever suspected that the Captain wasn't as emotionally invested as he appeared to be when hosting the annual holiday party. His family wasn't big into church-type things, and growing up it wasn't a big deal around the farm, especially after Sam left. Tarsus was the only time he really experienced being a part of a family celebration - and he didn't like to think about that time in his life too often.

So it was strange when he found his thoughts being pulled toward the idea of the upcoming holiday. Nyota asked his opinion on getting Spock a child-sized lyre for Christmas, and he grinned, thinking it was a wonderful idea. Later that night, when he mentioned it to Bones, Jim was more than a little surprised to find that the doctor had been shopping on his own for some small gifts for the growing boy.

As it was, he and Bones didn't exchange gifts often. They were two grown men who just bought whatever they wanted whenever they needed it, not that they had many needs on board a ship like the _Enterprise_. But when Jim saw what presents Bones had found for their currently three year old son, something clicked in Jim's head. It wasn't always about what was needed or expected - sometimes it was just to say - 'Hey, I saw this and thought of you.'

 

And they were such 'Bones' sorts of gifts - a remote control car, the softest stuffed bear Jim had ever felt, and of all things, a football ("Promotes good hand-eye coordination"). Looking at the small pile of things, Jim wondered if Bones might have finally had, in young Spock, a chance at the son he never had but always wanted. The man loved his daughter, that was obvious, but the way Bones doted on the young Vulcan, never too busy for the smallest of questions or concerns, cleaning each skinned knee and bruised elbow with the tenderest of care, spoiling him when he thought no one was looking - it made Jim love him even more.

Didn't make the idea of finding his own gift any easier, until one evening as they all sat around the living area of their suite, each reading their own datapadd. "Father, may I-"

 _"Vuhlkansu,"_ Jim reminded him. At night, they tried to keep it as pure Vulcan as they could, considering Bones' inability to learn new languages.

 _  
"Sa-mekh? Sosyokul saffir?"  
_

 _"Ha,"_ Jim told him with a nod, watching as Spock got up and padded across the room in his footie pajamas to get his evening portion of dessert, Bones getting up to help him (and grab a bowl for himself, Jim guessed).

"Wish I had that metabolism of his," Bones sighed as the little boy scampered back to his play area with a bowl of Vulcan bread pudding, Bones following with his own. "You think he always had that sweet tooth?"

Jim scoffed. "Probably. Should ask Nyota sometime." Then he turned to the boy on the floor creating a city skyline out of small, plastic, interlocking bricks, watching the determined look on his face. "Spockkan, what did you learn today with your teacher?" Jim was grateful so many of the crew had volunteered their time off-shift to work with the little Vulcan, doing math problems or showing him around the ship's safe areas, answering his unending questions about everything.

Spock looked up from his bowl and found Jim's face, and his soft round face turned serious, as if this were important information. "I learned that given any right triangle, the area of the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the areas of the squares of the two legs that meet at a right angle." Then he smiled shyly, eyes darting between his two fathers.

"A2 plus B2 equals C2?" Seeing Jim's proud expression at his recitation, the tips of Spock's ears tinged green with happiness as he returned to his blocks with his now characteristic intensity and focus. Little buildings were serious business.

Bones coughed from his chair, and looked sadly at Jim. "When I was three, I was misspelling 'Leonard' and counting to ten on my toes."

"Aww, you mean Daddy wasn't as smart as my little Spockling here?" Jim chuckled, only to be rewarded with matching arched eyebrows aimed at him from the both of them, which sent him reeling with laughter. "I guess we love you anyway."

 

Ideas floated though Jim's head for a few days until it locked on something impossible but perfect, which meant of course that he _had_ to do it. So five days before Christmas, Jim walked down into Engineering, sat down in Scotty's office, and explained what he wanted. The two of them began planning.

Plotting.

A mixture of the two, really.

 

"Bridge to Captain Kirk."

Jim put down his spanner wrench and picked up his communicator. "Kirk here."

He could hear the smile in Nyota's voice. "Someone is looking for you, Captain."

Jim looked over at two of the engineering crewmen who were working with him, calling out to them, "The gig is up, gentlemen." Sure enough, a few moments later the door to the quarters that used to belong to the CMO slid open and he heard a familiar voice. "Well, I'll be..."

Jim slid out from under the large metal cage that served as the skeleton for the large bowl-like structure that dominated what used to be Leonard's living area. "Hey you."

Bones sat down next to Jim's head and looked up at the huge metal square. "What in the world is this?" he asked, touching the cool steel cage.

Sitting up, Jim wiped a bit of sweat off his face and told the two Engineering guys to take a break. Looking back at Bones, he leaned back on his hands. "It's a learning bowl." Or it would be when he was done with it.

"...Jim." Bones reached out and touched his shoulder, a familiar gesture. "This- it's perfect," he finally said, his face full of surprise and affection. "You know, I would have helped, if you'd asked."

"I wanted to do this." Jim's fingers stroked the bowl's structure. "Maybe I needed to do this." Another glance at Bones. "Do you sometimes think that we're not doing enough for him?"

He half-expected Bones to disagree with him, but he didn't, just sat there a moment, looking up at the side of the bowl. "Sometimes," he admitted to Jim. "I see him acting like us, you know, doing what we're doing and I worry that maybe we're not Vulcan enough for what he needs. And he's so fucking bright, even now." Bones' fingers laced together. "I mean, what are we gonna do when he gets really genius smart?"

"That's part of why I thought of this," Jim told him, patting the learning bowl. "I got the Vulcans to agree to program it for me if I can get the interfaces to all link up. The technology is straightforward enough. It's not gonna look pretty, but it will keep him occupied for the next couple of years."

 

Christmas morning came and Spock tumbled out of his small bed in a pleasant mood, as always, and headed to the table for his breakfast meal. There were presents there, stacked neatly next to his fruit and toast.

"This is for me?" he asked, his dark eyes fascinated by the shiny paper Bones had used to wrap his gifts.

"As soon as you finish," Jim said, as he and Bones had their coffee and toast.

Each present was opened carefully by small hands, Bones twitching at the way Spock carefully kept the paper intact. He inspected each gift, thanking them politely each time he opened something new. It was hard to tell sometimes if Spock really liked the gifts because he wanted to please them, or if he genuinely enjoyed them, but a clear favorite emerged as the stuffed bear among Bones' gifts got dragged from the table to the play area to the bathroom.

After everyone was dressed, Jim led the small procession down the turbo lift to Bones' old room, now fully converted for Spock's classes and learning.

"Gonna make some stairs," Jim assured Bones, who didn't look too pleased as the little boy began scaling the ladder that leaned against the cube. Jim followed him up there, sitting with his feet dangling over the edge, and slid Spock down into the bowl, where he stood holding his bear, looking around at the black transparent surface. "Computer, initiate lesson one."

A cool female voice began speaking as the bowl lit up. "Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, as well as all related concepts, including energy and force," it said in Vulcan, writing scrolling around the sides of the bowl. "To begin our studies, we will examine matter, which is defined as anything that has mass and occupies volume."

Bones leaned over the edge, looking down at the little boy, frozen in his place, his eyes wide as he took in everything. Then the voice started again, describing mass and molecules and Jim's heart swelled with pride as Spock began _really_ listening, taking it in like a sponge. "He needed this," he murmured, sighing in relief against Bones' side.

Bones took his hand. "You did a good thing here," he said, leaning into Jim's ear. "Damn, Jim, look at him." The little boy's lips were moving silently, as if he were repeating everything he heard, committing it to memory. Then he looked up at his fathers, giving them a blinding smile before the voice began again, this time describing the structure of an atom, and young Spock returned to his stoic mien, attention fully on the lesson.

"Merry Christmas, Spock," Jim whispered, seeing the hint of a smile on the little boy's face as he sat down, pulling his bear on his lap, listening to definitions of neutrons, protons, and electrons like it was the most amazing story in the world.


End file.
